We love outdoor cooking. Mark and I always have a bit of an eye out for cool things to use at the yurts too, so when Mark spotted this wood gas burning stove, we thought it would be worth trying out! We have plans as the boys get older, of venturing out to the wilder parts of our farmland, and beyond... setting up camp, foraging, and cooking al fresco! Will and Tommy are still a little little, so for now, we are introducing elements of bushcraft, and practising skills in the comfort and safety of our lovely farmhouse garden!

Foraging for twigs in the garden

This little stove is brilliant! We lit it using a flint, and some lint from our tumble drier. All it then needs is a steady supply of dry twigs to keep it going, and it does some fancy stuff with the air intake to turn the twigs into into gas, and burns really cleanly so that it doesn't smoke very much, and it's very efficient and low on emissions!

Will's 'Tree Costume'

Twig supplies

Tommy helps Daddy break up the twigs

The field kitchen

Cooking on 'gas'

The meal of Thomas the Tank Engine pasta shapes, was a hit with the boys, who seemed much more interested in cooking outdoor with Daddy with twigs and fire, than they are in the kitchen with Mummy! We'll definitely be doing more of this in the Autumn - but probably lunches rather than supper as the evenings draw in!! Mark and I had also cooked up some ratatouille earlier in the week in some old school mess tins, which had a lovely smokey flavour to it.

The stove is a definite hit with us, although we are still not sure if it would be a good replacement to the gas camping stoves we have at the yurts. Brilliant as they are, they do require some work to keep them going, and you can't beat the immediacy and simplicity of the camping stove. We'll see though - I have visions of a Bushcraft pack for yurters to opt for if they are up for some proper bushcraft action. After all, it will engage the kids, and has a low carbon impact - something we are very keen to facilitate!